What is the protocol for fueling at the truck islands? Pull up to the pump, go inside and pay cash, and go back out and pump? Both times they have asked me for the name of my trucking company.

Brian S.

Brian,

We always fuel at the truck island. We have never had any questions asked. That is probably because we are commercial, and we look commercial (to most people, we are still just a bus conversion, but we have a DOT # and everything). We pull up, and one of us goes inside with a CC to authorize the pump. After the pumping is done, go back inside, and tell them the pump number. It is good to know your amount too, so you make sure you don't get somebody else's bill.

If you are private, then I would just tell them, when they ask, "private coach," or "private RV." Since you don't have a company name, it is fine.

Also, I don't get why truckers try to save the .08 a gallon. They have to pay fuel tax anyways. We do. We have to send all of the forms in with how many miles we traveled, etc. It doesn't matter very much to us where we buy fuel, anymore, because we will pay that state's tax anyways. It is complicated, but last year we actually got a refund.

Otherwise, we simply look for the best price. But if it is .08 in tax difference, for us, we don't care.

FWIW guys truck stops are about the only place in AZ the 2 different prices are offered 99.5% of the C stores sell only the 8 cent a gal off fuel for RV's and the truckers know this you see bobtails in those places often and our Governor Brewer is looking for cash with our fuel being in line with most states for trucks to me it would not be worth saving 8 bucks on a 100 gals of fuel if you get caught,but I did it for years with buses I owned

I have no idea Don but was told it was the same as using dyed fuel which can be big bucks here up to 10 grand

good luck

EEEEEEEEEEEouch! That smarts.

I had a trailer once that had an expired tag, and I was going to California, so I called the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and inquired "How much is the fine for a trailer tag that is X months out of date?" and they said "$75.00."

So I thought about it, "the cost of the tag is $90.00 and then there is the penalty and all that" and both of them added up to MORE than the fine, so off we went to California. Everything went just fine until we had to stop in Needles for fuel, but that is another post and another day.

My 40' RTS has only two axles, but the GVW is 36,900 lbs. I have never been hassled filling at the RV pump in AZ, the only problem is trying to get to the pump. Like the original post says, the third axle is the obvious infraction that they look for. They don't know how much your GVW is without inspecting your ID plate, and I'll be damned if I tell them where it is!